A Place to Belong
by mischieflover
Summary: Mollie is living successfully in Gotham City... she's alive. Full Summary Inside! Please RR. Rated T for language and violence later on.
1. The Loony Clown's Back

**Hi! This is my first Dark Knight fic, and I'm really excited to see how it turns out. I've been playing with the idea of writing one for a while. I'm sort of making the story up as I go along, so I'm definitely up for suggestions if you guys would like to see something happen.**

**Please Read and Review!**

**Summary: Mollie is living successfully in Gotham City... she's alive. Quitting school and running from home, Mollie lives on the streets with the only friends she's ever known. When those friends are taken, she's alone. But not for long. Her savior gives her a place to belong and something to live for. Under his guidance, she learns what it takes to survive in Gotham. With him, she's safest from the terror of Gotham, himself... The Joker.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything that is copyrighted. Mollie is mine though, as is anything you don't recognize.**

**-0-**

Mollie hissed as she pulled her shirt on over the barely-healed cuts, the bruises on her ribs and abdomen giant purple and green blobs of pain. She looked at her reflection in the grubby mirror. Mollie thought she was a plain girl; she was five-foot three, and there wasn't much to her but her fair skin covering her bones; but she didn't have a disorder of any kind, she was just one of those naturally thin girls. Her long, slightly wavy, dark brown hair hung limply to her shoulders, shining dully in the weak light that streamed through her window. Mollie tucked a strand behind her ear. Her light green eyes were the only parts about her that she liked. When she was happy, they shone with a light buried deep inside her; a light that rarely come out because it was shadowed by the beatings and the bruises. Gone were the days where she could wear tank-tops and t-shirts. She had to hide her bruised and battered arms now, because there was no way she could keep blaming her own clumsiness for the ever-increasing number of dark splotches that decorated her thin arms.

"Mollie!" a voice called. "You're going to be late!"

Every day, Mollie's mother called the same morning greeting down the hall from the kitchen. Every day, Mollie was late to school. Mollie slipped on her old, beat up sneakers and gingerly pulled her book bag on to a sore shoulder. Her father hadn't spared any inch of her last night.

She entered the little kitchen and found her mother peering at herself in a small compact, applying make-up around her eye, covering up a newly-acquired shiner, by the look of it. Mollie didn't say anything, but grabbed a piece of toast on her way out. Mollie and her mother didn't talk about the abuse. It seemed to Mollie that her mother thought that if they didn't talk about it, it never happened.

Out on the street, Mollie breathed more easily. At home, she had to watch what she said and did. It was like living on a knife edge, a very fine one at that. Outside, she could be free from the constraints. Outside, she could forget about the pain and loneliness that she knew in the back of her mind she would have to return to.

The final warning bell rang as Mollie walked up to the small public school. She didn't hurry though; late was late. She slipped into class four minutes later, ignoring the disapproving glance her history teacher gave her. She carefully leaned back in her seat as the teacher got back on topic; it was about the industrial revolution. Yawn.

Hours later, which felt like a lifetime to Mollie, the dismissal bell rang out. Clenched in her hand was a report card, with a note from the principal scrawled on the bottom. Mollie's grades had begun to drop. She knew this, but she didn't care. School was useless in this city; it wasn't going to teach anyone how to survive here. As far as Mollie was concerned, Gotham City was Hell on Earth; half the city was packed away in Arkham and the rest was on its way. The crime rate was through the roof, no matter what small dent the Batman made. School wasn't going to teach her how to find the honest policemen, nor was it going to tell her the secret of staying alive while Arkham's newest escapee, The Joker, was running free in the city once again.

Most people Mollie knew didn't watch the news anymore. There was only so much horror and destruction a person can take in a lifetime, and if that person happened to live in Gotham, they got ten times that amount – if they didn't get killed in some explosion or caught in the crossfire of a gang shootout before that time.

Her feet had taken her reluctantly back home without any conscious thought. Mollie shut the door behind her with a soft click. She set her book bag on one of the kitchen chairs, and threw the report card in the trash. For seventeen years, she'd done what her mother wanted. Once she started school, her mother pushed her to be the best. She would tell Mollie that if she did well in school, she would be free to leave and make something of herself out there in the world. And Mollie believed her. She studied late into the night, rewriting notes and going over extra homework problems. Mollie was going to leave the life she knew behind her, the life of living paycheck to paycheck and having to sell possessions for a few extra bucks.

Then a year ago happened. The Joker made Gotham his new sandbox, destroying the city like a bully jumping on some poor kid's sandcastle. Mollie saw how the rich and powerful crumbled in his grasp, and decided that moving up in the world was just as dangerous as staying where she was, abuse and all.

Mollie went to her room and fell down on her bed, groaning as her lumpy mattress prodded a bruise painfully. She shifted and the pain receded. Closing her eyes, Mollie watched the sunlight that shone through the yellowing curtains on her window make patterns dance across the inside of her eyelids. Her mind went blank as she watched the hypnotizing designs swirl back and forth.

What felt like only moments later, someone knocked on her door. Mollie sighed and pushed herself up. "What?"

"Mollie Lauren, we need to talk," her mother said, opening the door. Mollie knew she was in trouble for something; her mother had used her middle name. In her hand was a crumpled piece of paper, and Mollie recognized it with annoyance. The report card. "What is this all about?"

"Nothing," Mollie mumbled to the floor.

"No, it's not 'nothing'. How long has this been going on?"

Mollie shrugged.

Her mother sighed angrily. "God, Mollie, I thought you wanted out. I've been putting you through school so you could, and this is how you repay me? Failing grades in all your classes and detentions for being late every week?"

Mollie stared determinedly at a spot on the floor, a swirly knot in the wooden board by the bed. "It doesn't matter where I end up. I'll probably just get killed just the same," she muttered.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Mollie finally looked her mother in the eye. "Because, if you haven't noticed, Mom, we live in a hellhole! More people get killed here in a day than in a month in a war-torn third-world country! There's nowhere to go but six feet under – and that's if you're lucky enough that they can even find your bod—"

"Mollie Lauren! That is _enough_! I want you to go get your backpack and start your homework."

"No."

"No? I don't believe there was a choice. Go do your homework!"

Mollie was about to reply when an angry voice yelled from down the hall. "Will you two shut the fuck up?! Or I'll give you something to shout about!" Her father, red-faced and smelling strongly of alcohol, appeared in the doorway. "Deb, I told you I was going to sleep. Is it too much to ask for a little peace and quiet in this house?!" He grabbed his wife's shoulder, spinning her around, and slapped her hard in the face. Mollie winced, looking away. "Is it, Deb? Is it really too hard for you two to stop your bitching at one another so a man can have a peaceful moment?" Mollie risked a look, and saw her father's face mere inches away from her mother's, and his back to her. Slowly, Mollie reached for her shoes and slipped them on. Careful not to make too much noise, she stood up and braced herself to dash to the kitchen.

She almost made it past. With unbelievably quick reflexes, her father's hand struck out and grabbed her bony wrist, pulling her back. Mollie cried out as his fingers cut off the circulation to her hand, creating another bruise with his vice-like grip. Anger bottled up from having to take this kind of attention for as long as she could remember spilled over. With something akin to a war-cry, Mollie swung her captured arm, and was rewarded with a string of loud curses when she struck his hand on the corner of the doorframe. He instantly let go but made to grab her again. But Mollie was already in the kitchen, tossing her books haphazardly out of her backpack, leaving only her money and her extra jacket inside. She threw her backpack over her shoulder and wrenched open the door.

Mollie didn't stop running until she could hardly draw a breath. She was blocks from home, and planned on putting even more distance between herself and it.

Darkness fell rapidly, but the city was bathed in yellow light from the numerous street lamps, building windows and signs, and billboards. The only reason Gotham had a nighttime was because the clocks displayed PM. Mollie wrapped her arms around herself as she walked, hunching her shoulders up as if it would help keep her warmer. She passed a dark opening between two buildings.

"I'd be getting home soon, if I were you, Miss," said a voice in the darkness. "It's not as safe to wander the city at night… again."

Mollie stopped and whirled around. A thin, scruffy man stepped out into the light. He watched her calmly.

"I don't have a home," Mollie said automatically.

The man nodded understandingly. "Well, now, why don't you stay with us?" He gestured toward the alley that he'd been sitting in. Another younger man joined the first, and he was followed by a woman, who was carrying a little girl on her hip. "We don't have any place where we belong either."

Mollie looked at the family, and then smiled, nodding. The little girl struggled in the woman's arms, and the woman set her down. She went up to Mollie.

"I'm Polly," she said, looking up at Mollie.

Mollie knelt down. "I'm Mollie." The little girl smiled and took Mollie's hand. Mollie was led into the little alley, where a small fire was burning in a barrel. Crates were set around the barrel, and more were stacked on a wall. The young man took another crate down from the stack and placed it in the circle with the others. "We're glad that you decided to join us, Mollie," he said. "My name is Will; this is my girlfriend, Gina. You already know her younger sister, Polly," he said with a smile. "And this old man here is Tom. He took us in, like you."

Tom chuckled and sat on a crate. "We have a duty to look out for each other in these hard times," he said with a sigh. "That loony clown's back out there somewhere." He settled back against the alley wall, tipping his battered hat down over his eyes. As he fell quiet, Gina handed an old, thin blanket to Mollie with a warm smile. Mollie leaned back against her crate, watching Polly settle down with Gina. Will set his crate nearer to the entrance of the alley.

"Are you a look out?" Mollie asked quietly.

Will smiled softly. "Yeah. Can't be too careful, like Tom says."

Mollie nodded, readjusted her blanket, and, using her arm as a pillow, slowly drifted off to sleep to the light snores of old Tom.

**-0-**

**so whaddya think? personally, i think it's shaping up to be pretty good, but i'd like to hear what you think. so, if you could drop me a review, that'd be awesome! i guess we'll just put it out there now: i, like nearly every other writer here, am a review whore. i need them. and, the more reviews i get, the more likely i am to update faster!**


	2. Smoke, Tears, And A Card

**Hola! Well, I guess all that has to be said here right now is enjoy!**

**Oh, and Please Read and Review!**

**Disclaimer: don't own copyrighted things from TDK, as we all know. Mollie and the like are still mine.**

**-0-**

_A year or so later…_

Mollie had never felt more at home than she did when she lived with the others in the alley. Sometimes, it was like a family reunion when other homeless or runaway people stopped by the alley. Many of them knew Tom. When that happened, the extra crates were set, some of the men would go off to get food, and everyone would be talking late into the night, telling their stories. Mollie enjoyed meeting others like her and her new family. It kept everyone up to date on how everything was going in the other parts of the city, and who they could expect to show up in a few days.

But now, nobody had stopped in for a few days, and the five of them were sitting around the barrel, occupying themselves in some way or other. Gina looked up and cleared her throat. "Will, could you run to the store and grab a few apples and a loaf of bread?"

"Sure thing."

Mollie pulled on her jacket and let her wavy, dark brown hair out of the elastic, shaking it so it fell half in front of her face. "I'll go, Gina. Will went yesterday for dinner."

"Alright," said Gina. "Be careful."

"Always am," Mollie assured her, winking at Polly, who giggled. "Besides, I think I owe someone a candy bar for winning the race at the park yesterday." Polly clapped in delight, and Gina shook her head, smiling.

Mollie strolled nonchalantly out of the alley, blending in with the crowd that was heading off to work. She kept her head down; only glancing up occasionally to make sure she was still on course. A man ran into her shoulder, nearly spinning her around.

"Excuse me," he mumbled distractedly.

"Don't worry about it," Mollie muttered under her breath. She looked inside the wallet she now held in her hands. Four twenties, three tens, a couple fives, and a wad of ones. Nice. She stuck the wallet into her pocket, turned the corner and ran across the busy street into the grocery store on the corner. She tore a bag from the roll on the stand and began to fill it with apples, watching the other customers out of the corner of her eye. No one paid her any attention, which was just the way she liked it. She made her way through the store, grabbing a loaf of bread before going up to the cashier. Mollie tossed a chocolate bar on top of her small pile of purchases and pulled a twenty out of the wallet in her pocket as she waited for the cashier to get the total.

Mollie decided to take the long way back to the alley. It wove down a few more streets before it began to head back in the right direction. The reason Mollie took it was because it took her past her old house. She walked on the opposite side of the street, and saw her mother in the kitchen getting ready for work, putting on her waitressing apron. Her father was sitting on the couch, a can of beer in one hand and what looked like two empty cans on the end table next to the couch. Mollie shook her head, and continued on, glad that the alley was now her home, and the others were her family. The plastic grocery bag bounced against her leg every other step.

Mollie quickened her pace; Gina always worried when she took the long way, thinking someone might recognize her and take her back to her parents, where she knew Mollie was loathe to return. The sun burned through the haze of Gotham as it sunk lower in the sky. _Odd,_ thought Mollie, peering at the sky ahead of her, _Gotham seems a bit smoggier today._

A fire truck screamed past her, followed by three cop cars and an ambulance, their sirens wailing as well. Mollie watched them get smaller as they raced down the long city streets, and then they screeched to a halt. Mollie realized that the added smog in the sky was actually from the smoke made by the fire that the emergency crews had been called to. Dread began to eat away at her when she realized that the smoke was coming from close by the alley. Mollie began to run, fearing the worst and hoping against all hope that it wouldn't be true.

By the time she got to the scene, police barricades were already in place to keep the general public clear. Rubble was spilling out of the alley and into the street. The sides of the neighboring buildings had been blown in, adding to the horrifying mess. Mollie's breath caught in her throat, and the bag of groceries fell from her fingers, which she couldn't feel anymore. Two firemen were carrying a long, black bag. Mollie's eyes followed them to the ambulance of their own accord. A sob ripped from her throat when she saw two identical black bags already loaded, and a third smaller one lay on the ground by a policeman's feet. Mollie sank to the ground without realizing it.

The family she had loved from nearly the moment she met them had been taken away, just as quick. She couldn't seem to take her eyes off the smallest body bag. _Polly._ Why had that little innocent girl been robbed of her life? And Gina, who was a mother to them all? Why Will? What had Tom done to deserve such a fate? Take them in? What had any of them done?

A crowd had begun to form around the barricades. A policeman near Mollie saw her on the ground and went over to her. "Miss? Are you alright?"

Mollie looked up at him, her face tear-streaked, answering him silently.

He knelt next to her. "Did you know these people?" he asked quietly.

Mollie nodded. "They were my family… they took me in," she whispered, wiping away the stream of tears for all the good it would do.

"I'm sorry," said the policeman, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Who did this?" Mollie asked, her voice shaking. The policeman hesitated, looking back at his colleagues, who were trying to keep the crowd from pressing any closer. "Please," Mollie sobbed. "They meant the world to me."

The policeman reached into the pocket of his jacket, and pulled out what looked like a small slip of paper. He gave it to her. "This was found on top of the rubble," he said. Then he got up and left.

Mollie looked down at the rectangle he'd pressed into her hand. The corners were rounded, and the design on the side facing her was a blue diamond pattern. The tears began to fall anew. It was a playing card. She knew what would be on the other side; nonetheless, Mollie turned it over. A little joker stared back out at her, its limbs frozen in weird positions as if it had been dancing. Mollie stuck the card into the pocket of her jeans, and stood up. She roughly pushed past the crowd, and once she was free, she ran. She ran away from the destruction, away from the sadness, away from the hurt. Loneliness, however, kept pace. There was no one she could turn to now.

**-0-**

**yay! second chapter! how'd you like it? i'd really like to know, really truly. so, please drop a review for me! love.**


	3. The Prize

**_I'd like to give a huge thank you to readyaimfire333 for reviewing!_ (You're awesome!)**

**Also, I have made some necessary changes to the first and second chapters, so if you haven't seen those, you might want to check it out. It's the first paragraphs of each chapter. Erm, I think that's it for now….**

**Please Read And Review!!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything that is copyrighted for TDK. Mollie and the like are still mine.**

**-0-**

Time seemed to have stopped. But according to the discarded newspapers, a week and a half had passed since the explosion in the alley. Mollie felt detached from the rest of the world, partly because she kept to herself now. She was afraid if she was lucky enough to find another new family, it'd be taken away again. So she took up the life of a nomad in the city, moving constantly, never sleeping or staying in the same area twice. Mollie figured that she'd probably walked through over half of Gotham, but it all looked the same to her.

Night finally fell on the thirteenth day since the explosion. Mollie tiredly walked through what seemed like her millionth park and sat down on a bench in the darkest area she could find. She set her book bag down next to her and sighed. It had been another long day, and she was looking forward to a dreamless sleep. Punching her bag like a pillow, Mollie lay down on the bench, her back pressed against the back of the bench, her feet almost hanging off. The night noises – cars on the streets, people talking, and the wind in the trees above her – faded into the background slowly. Her eyes closed, and she was grateful when she felt the sleep beginning to take over…

"Excuse me." Mollie was shaken awake. Taken by surprise, she bolted upright, and would have made a run for it if the man hadn't had a grip on her arm. She nervously took a closer look at him.

He was a cop, dressed in the dark blue uniform that looked black in the middle of the night. His pale skin said he probably got stuck with the night shifts most of the time and therefore didn't get any sun while he slept during the day. His badge glinted in the soft moonlight. His hat was pulled down so that his eyes were in shadow, mere pinpricks of light when he turned a certain way. He wasn't smiling.

"Y-yes?" Mollie stammered, gathering her bag closer to her.

"Do you know it's a misuse of a public facility to sleep on a city park bench?"

"Um, no, I didn't."

The cop pulled on her arm, and she stood up. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to take you down to the station to write it up." He grabbed her bag as well, pushing her towards the street.

"For sleeping on a bench?" It sounded ridiculous to Mollie. The cop nodded and proceeded to pull her across the grass. "Hey, I can walk on my—"

Mollie was suddenly silenced; the cop slapped a strip of duct tape over her mouth. Mollie tried to tug her arm out of his grip, but he just held on tighter. When that didn't work, she tried to rip the tape off when his other hand grabbed her other arm and forced both of her arms behind her back. Her wrists were pinched together, and something hard cut into them. Mollie realized that she'd been crudely handcuffed.

And then she couldn't see. A cloth bag of some sort had been put over her head. _Okay_, she thought frantically, _this guy is definitely NOT a cop_. His fingers pinched her bicep against her bone painfully as he pulled her quickly through park. She stumbled on the uneven ground constantly.

He jerked her to an abrupt stop. Mollie heard other muffled voices and then a metallic creak. The "cop" pushed her a few steps forward, and then she felt multiple hands grab her and lift her off the ground. She landed roughly on a hard metal surface. A soft _whump_ landed next to her head; Mollie assumed it was her bag. An engine rumbled to life, and the floor beneath her vibrated. Mollie felt a sensation of movement, and then she was thrown into a wall as what she assumed was some sort of car she was thrown into turned a sharp corner.

Mollie heard muttering close by, and she tried to call out. "MMMM! MmmmmMMM!" Mollie cursed the duct tape.

"Shut up!" said one of the mutterers. The voice came from the general area of her feet. Mollie rolled on her back, and attempted to aim a kick. She was pleased when she connected with something semi-soft, and a loud curse was shouted.

"Ahh! Goddamit! Tie her up!" The mutterer moaned some more, and Mollie was forced roughly on her side. Her legs were pinned together, and then she felt the constriction of some kind of rope as it was wound around her ankles. "Tie it to her wrists too, so she can't kick at all." Her legs were bent painfully up behind her in some sort of scorpion pose. Unable to move, Mollie lay on the floor of the vehicle, wondering what on earth she could have done to deserve this.

Mollie had no sense of how much time had passed when the vehicle finally stopped for good. There were orders shouted from outside, and the doors were thrown open and crashed loudly against their hinges. The rough hands grabbed her. One set cut the rope holding her legs together so she could walk on her own. Once she was free, she was pushed into the hands of others, who then proceeded to march her down a flight of stairs, keeping an uncomfortably tight hold on her.

Keys jingled, and the scrape of a lock being opened echoed oddly. Mollie was pushed a few more feet before she was forced to sit on something cold – a metal chair, more than likely. More muttering echoed dimly all around her, and she assumed that she was sitting in the middle of a room. The door creaked open, and the muttering stopped. Mollie heard footsteps, and she thought she could hear some sort of tuneless humming. At some unspoken orders, the bag was pulled off her head and her hands were released from the crude handcuffs.

The room was dark. Mollie rubbed her sore wrists as she tried to see faces that were hidden in shadow. The only light came from a weak light bulb that hung from the ceiling.

"You can take the tape off." Mollie jumped at the voice behind her. It was male, a slightly higher-pitched tenor. Mollie tentatively reached up to peel the duct tape off, wincing as it tugged mercilessly at her skin and lips. "There, now we can really have a heart to heart. Ha haa…" A hand came to rest on her shoulder heavily, making her flinch. Another hand came from behind her into her line of sight. It was holding a playing card, a joker. Mollie recognized it as the one she kept in her book bag.

The hand that held it was in a dark purple glove. Mollie's eyes widened, and she automatically tried to spring from the chair and run. But the man behind her expected this, and kept firm pressure on her shoulder to keep her seated. "Ah. I take it you know who I am…. Good."

"You're a psychopath," Mollie said, her voice quavering. Even so, she still sounded braver than she felt.

"Aha! Hee hee hee!" The man's laugh was shrill and disturbing. "Now, now. I don't generally go by that… but surely you know that. Who am I?"

"The Joker," Mollie whispered.

"Hooray! Gentlemen, let's get this lucky lady a prize, shall we?" The Joker walked around the chair, and began to pace a few feet in front of Mollie. She watched him warily. "Ya wanna know what your prize is? Huh?" A knife appeared in his hand, and he turned to her. His face was painted completely white, except for his eyes, which were surrounded by black paint, and his mouth, which had an unusually large, bright red smile that continued all the way up his cheeks. His dark eyes glittered sinisterly. "Well, before I tell you, I have something I want to know. What I want to know is why you've been carrying this card – my card – around. Didja find it in the street?" He looked at her, tilting his head slightly. "No? Well, then maybe you found it… ah…. You found it with some _loved ones_, didn't you? Did—did I kill someone you knew?" A tear dropped uncontrollably down Mollie's cheek. "Aw…" The Joker reached out and brushed it away, and Mollie repressed a shudder. He straightened up and looked around the room, addressing the unseen lackeys. "I think this is getting kinda personal. Why don't you take a break, hmm?" The men in the shadows retreated out the door, leaving Mollie and The Joker alone.

"What do you want?" Mollie asked shakily.

"What do I want? Oh, I want alotta things. Money… fame… the Bat's identity." He cackled. "Well, two out of three ain't bad." He looked at her again. "But I think you'd like to know what I want _with you_." He began to pace again, twirling the knife absently in his hands, the blade reflected the light each time it spun. "Ya see, after I got out of the loony bin, most of my men were gone. Fled. Thought I'd never return. What do they know, huh? Ahahaha… Now all I have are the leftovers, the ones too stupid to know that they could've left. Oh, they're good enough for a simple kidnap. But they can't appreciate the good stuff, ya know? So, what I need is someone who the cops won't expect. Someone who can nip in and out and no one's the wiser…. Someone like you, see? And that's the prize, why I chose you. You're perfect, see."

"Why the hell would you think I'd want to work for you?" Mollie spat angrily, glaring up at him.

The Joker grinned, making his permanent smile even more apparent. "'Cause… I can give you a place to belong… I can keep you safe from Gotham's greatest terror."

"And who would that be?"

The Joker walked behind her, and as he did, he began to laugh. "Why, me of course! Aha! Hahaha! Heehee!" The door clanged shut.

**-0-**

**alrighty! now the joker's in! thoughts? questions? comments? concerns? i'd really really like to know what you think! reviews please! love.**


	4. Atta Girl

**I would like to first off thank readyaimfire333 for reviewing! Love! (I would also like to thank for reviewing chapter one!)**

**Please Read And Review!**

**Disclaimer: don't own TDK or affiliated characters and things like that. Mollie and the like are mine.**

**-0-**

Mollie sat in the dim room. It was cold, and slightly damp. It was underground, so there were no windows to tell her the time of day. The Joker had left the card on the floor, and it taunted her a few feet away. Mollie sighed, and stood up, looking around the room. There wasn't much to see. The bare grey walls, probably cement or something like it, were dark with the damp atmosphere. The door was plain metal, with rivets around the perimeter, and no window of any kind.

She hugged herself in the chilly air, rubbing her arms with her hands a few times. Her eyes fell to the card again. Mollie bent down and picked it up. She idly wondered whether Gotham would outlaw the jokers in playing card decks. Walking around the room for a lack of anything better to do, Mollie let her mind wander.

A place to belong, he'd said. Something to live for. Well, she didn't have either. She wasn't about to go back to her parents, and she'd already resolutely decided that she couldn't get close to anyone if it meant losing them again, and in Gotham that was almost a certainty. Mollie sighed.

XXX

It felt like days since she'd been in the room. Her stomach pinched with hunger. Any longer and Mollie thought she just might go nuts. Almost as if someone had been reading her thoughts, the lock clicked loudly, and the door swung inward, creaking noisily. Mollie didn't even turn look to see who had opened the door. She stayed in the chair, flipping the joker card end over end, over and over again. Soft footsteps scuffed on the rough floor behind her, and then stopped. Mollie heard a sigh, and knew who was in the room with her.

"Why me?" she asked quietly.

"Because," he said, "you're right for the job." Something rustled, like a wrapper. Mollie heard him walk around to her right. She looked up finally, and saw that The Joker held a candy bar. He held it out to her, bouncing it up and down slightly in his hand. "Hungry?" Mollie studied him for a few seconds, put the card in her lap, and then took the candy.

"How long have I been here?" she asked, watching him while she unwrapped the chocolate.

"Does it matter? Who's waiting for you?" Mollie looked away, before her expression could give away her discontent at his dead-on question. "Do you wanna know why you're the one? You got to be wondering; I mean, I would be." Mollie shrugged, breaking off a piece of chocolate and eating it. "Well," The Joker went on, "it really had to do with the card; that was the deciding factor." Mollie looked up, a puzzled look on her face. "Ya see, we were trying to find… _loners_. Someone who didn't have anyone else." He licked his lips. "Well, the scum of Gotham are all banning together now, tryin' to stay alive in this city. It's hard to find anyone alone anymore. There were three others before you. The first, well, he looked like a squealer… couldn't have that. The second had some fight in him, didn't wanna cooperate… couldn't have that either. The third was one I won't forget for a while." He licked his lips again, smiling as he remembered. "She fought too. Took out two of my men before we stopped her. It's a shame she didn't like me, ha-ha."

"And me?"

"You… you had the right look." Lick. "And then, when they searched your bag and found the card, that was the icing on the cake. Then I _knew_ that you didn't have anyone. You hadn't moved on if you kept the card."

"And you don't think I'll fight? You think I'm going to cooperate?"

"Yeah. Two reasons. One is that you don't have anyone to turn to. People are superstitious these days. Once they find out that I've killed your friends, they won't want you near them; they'll think you're bad luck. The other is that you know you're gonna die if you don't cooperate. The other three didn't want in, and…" The Joker shrugged. "Look where it got them." He held his hand out, and Mollie gave him the chocolate bar back. He broke a chunk off, and handed the rest back. "You and me, we're not really that different."

Mollie popped the last piece of chocolate in her mouth and thought of a couple things she could point out to prove him wrong, and decided that it'd be best if she didn't. "Who's to say I won't die if I sign on? I'd bet your boys out there don't think they need anyone like me added to their team."

"I say," said The Joker. "Nobody lifts a finger around here without my permission. When I say you won't die if you stay with me, you're guaranteed life."

Mollie looked down. The card in her lap caught her eye. The candy wrapper fell to the floor as she picked up the card again. She knew that The Joker was watching her. With a slow deliberateness, Mollie tore the card in half.

"Atta girl," The Joker whispered, and Mollie could hear the smile in his words. "Come on, I wanna show you my home." He laughed, walking towards the door.

Mollie stood up, letting the torn pieces fall to the floor. She was going to forget her past – everything. Her life as she now knew it had just begun. It was a good thing, she decided, that she was good at forgetting unnecessary things. Her life would have a purpose now, and she would have someone that could protect her, truly protect her, from anything Gotham could throw at them. She followed The Joker out the door.

**-0-**

**yay! chapter 4! and it's doubly exciting for me cuz i just pre-ordered TDK this morning! can't wait till it comes out! anyhoo, reviews are much appreciated! i really would like to know what you think! love.**


	5. Talkin' Shop

**Thank you to readyaimfire333 and SeleneistheJoker'sgirl for their wonderful reviews! Love!**

**Um, I don't think I have anything to say this time…. Uh, Enjoy!**

**Please Read And Review!**

**Disclaimer: don't own TDK and its characters. Mollie and plot and other things like that are mine.**

**-0-**

The Joker ushered Mollie to a sleek black car that was waiting up the stairs that lead down to the room she'd been kept in. The windows were tinted dark and Mollie could just barely make out a silhouette sitting in the driver's seat. A tall, dark-haired man in a clown mask opened the left rear door as they approached. The Joker motioned for Mollie to go first, and then got in after her.

"Go," he told the driver, who was another man in a clown mask. The car sped forward out of two wide warehouse doors. A white van followed them out, with another clown-masked man driving it.

Mollie watched the Gotham scenery pass by; skyscraper after skyscraper shadowed the street from the setting sun. Then they suddenly were plunged into darkness, weaving in between slower cars while the orange street lights above flickered and did their best to shed light in the black tunnel, the Lower Fifth. The car drove down a small side street after about ten minutes of traveling through the underground tunnel and came to a stop minutes later by a large, nondescript building with dirty whitewashed brickwork.

The men in the van behind them got out and went in what Mollie assumed was The Joker's hideout, for lack of a better word.

"Home sweet home," The Joker said, smiling, and he got out, Mollie following.

The inside wasn't much more interesting than the outside. The walls were bare, unless Mollie counted the cobwebs tucked away in the dark corners. There were three large rectangular tables set out on the wide open floor space, with about four feet between them, creating little walkways. Things were on the tabletops, but Mollie couldn't tell what they were. A smaller square table stood over in a corner, and a small television sat on top. There was a dirty old couch and some chairs set in front of the smaller table. There were two large metal cabinets standing side by side against the far wall, and both had locks on the handles. The light swung from the ceiling in the light breeze that had come when the door was opened. They had metal cages over the shades and the bulbs, like the ones Mollie imagined a prison might have. A large, many-paned window over looked the dingy street.

"So…" The Joker said, laying an arm across her shoulders, "whaddya think? Charming, isn't it?"

"Cozy," Mollie agreed.

The Joker cackled his manic laughter. He looked around the space, spying his men standing around him. "You've been here before, get to work!" There were quiet mumblings of "Yes, Boss" scattered among the clown-faced men. They went to the tables and began to sort out the wires that were strewn everywhere among the other mechanical pieces.

XXX

_Five months later…._

The Joker had been gone a while. Mollie paced, huffing out an annoyed breath every once in a while. The men who had been left behind to work on the bomb project watched her out of the corner of their eyes. Every so often, she glared out the window to the street.

The news station, Gotham City News, had been speculating about The Joker the night before. They said it had been months – when he got Mollie, in fact – since he had made an appearance for the random killing sprees that he was known for after he escaped Arkham, and the city was wondering fearfully about what he could be planning. Some hopefuls had called into the news station and said that he must have taken a ticket out of Gotham because the Batman had been catching his clown lackeys left and right, and now their ring leader had no one to do his work. The Joker had laughed at this, and promised the television that he could never leave the grimy city he loved so much.

Mollie guessed that he must have left sometime early in the morning before she woke up, and he hadn't been back all day, nor had he called or left a note. Mollie knew she was probably overreacting, but she couldn't help it. The Batman was out there for Christ's sake! Did the man have no sense of self-preservation?

She picked the remote for the television off the chair next to her and turned the TV on. It was in the middle of a deodorant commercial. Mollie sat down on the couch with a sigh, flipping the remote in her hand while she waited for the news station to come back on. The red GCN logo ran across the screen, and Mollie sat up.

"Breaking news," said the middle-aged news anchor, shuffling the papers of the story he'd just been given. "It seems as if The Joker has come out of hiding. Authorities are asking people to remain calm, and use common sense: don't go out at night, and stay with others when in an unfamiliar place. We are just getting GCN's video of the crime scene. Some of the video may be unsettling for some audiences."

Mollie leaned forward to see the picture better. She recognized it as a hotel suite. The bed sheets were all over the floor. Pillows were slashed, their feathers spilling out like guts. The camera moved into the bathroom. Blood was smeared across the mirror and it had flowed into the sink like red snakes, but it had dried up now. The camera came out of the bathroom and showed what was on the wall opposite the king-sized bed. Written in blood were large letters that spelled out "MISS ME?" The video paused on that message, and then the news anchor was back on. Mollie sat back.

"I've just been informed that the room had been occupied by Anthony Brige, the up and coming District Attorney who was favored to replace Harvey Dent." A picture of the new – now late – D.A. was shown, captioned with the man's name. He was decently attractive, Mollie thought as she twisted a lock of her wavy brown hair between her fingers, with his deep brown eyes and toothpaste-commercial-white smile. The picture disappeared and was again replaced by the news anchor. "Witnesses said they saw Brige enter his suite, and a few minutes later, a group of men knocked at the door. They said that Brige let the men in, and after a time, varying from an hour to two hours, the men left. Police have no further leads in catching the suspect; again, whom they believe to be The Joker."

"Aren't those coppers smart?" said a happy voice an inch away from Mollie's ear. She gasped and jumped off of the couch. The Joker grinned horribly.

"So, that's where you've been all day?" Mollie asked, sitting back down on the couch, draping her legs over the arm.

The Joker licked his lips. "For the most part."

"And the other part?" Mollie tried not to smile, failing grandly.

The Joker motioned to one of the men behind him that had gone with him during the day. The man passed him a bag, which he then passed to Mollie. "For you."

Mollie stared at him, and then took out the thing in the bag. It was a black belted raincoat, one of those fashionable jackets that Mollie wished she had the money for every time she passed the store. She stared at The Joker again, who grinned. "Th-thank you," she stammered, shocked that he thought of her.

He waved it off. "Five months, Mollie dear. Think of it as a benefit of working here."

"A two hundred dollar benefit," Mollie said, looking at the coat again.

The Joker shrugged. "Now, onto the next order of business… Warner." He motioned to one of the men working at the bomb table, and he came over. "Warner, how long you been workin' for me?"

Warner blinked. "Uh, I dunno. Few weeks, I s'pose."

The Joker's expression didn't change, but his pleasant smile was beginning to look sinister. "And how's your home life?"

Warner looked confused now. "Um, good?"

"Been talking to anyone? Family? Friends?"

Warner ran a shaking hand through his dirty blonde hair. "Well, I – I only –"

"Only been talking to your shrink, haven't you Warner?"

Warner's eyes widened. "I haven't said a word about you! I swear!"

Mollie saw The Joker slip in his hand in his pocket, and she glanced at Warner nervously, guessing his fate. "We can't have any chances for slips, now can we?"

"N-no, no of course not!"

The Joker smiled fully now. His scarred smile stretched gruesomely. "Good. I'm glad we agree." He pulled his hand out of his pocket.

Ears ringing, Mollie watched Warner drop to the ground, the blood seeping into his blue shirt made it darker. His blue eyes stared unseeingly out at a point just above her shoulder.

"And _that_, gentlemen, is why we don't talk shop outside the workplace." The Joker said jovially, slipping the revolver back into his pocket. He waved a hand and two of the men dragged Warner's body out of the room. "Now," he said quietly, "I believe we have a problem, boys. I think someone knows about our little operation. I think we need to stop him."

"The Batman?" Kurt asked.

"Ahahaa, no. The Bat is oblivious." He licked his lips, and then looked at Mollie. "Your time to shine, darlin'. I need you to do some… _recon_. I want you to find out what Doctor Jonathan Crane knows."

"Doctor Crane? That one from Arkham?"

"That's the one! Sly little weasel."

Mollie nodded. "Okay."

XXX

Mollie hunched her shoulders against the wind and shoved her hands deeper into the pockets of her new raincoat. Crane was walking ten or so feet in front of her. So far, she'd learned nothing. She couldn't lie well enough to get into Arkham, so she had waited outside until he was finished for the day. Now she was just focused on getting back. Not that she was looking forward to telling The Joker that she didn't have anything. There was no telling what he'd do; he was so temperamental.

"Ooof!" Mollie bounced off of something soft, yet sturdy. She looked up. Crane smiled back down at her.

"Can I help you? Couldn't help but notice that you've been on my tail all day."

Mollie swallowed nervously.

"Come on, sweetie, let's… _talk_." He gripped her upper arm, dragging her into a small space between two shops.

When Mollie looked back up at him, he had some sort of burlap bag on his head with stitching crawling all over it. Before she could react, he raised his hand to her face, and she saw some sort of spray bottle before a cloud obscured her vision. She coughed violently. She heard screams, and she looked around. The screaming wouldn't stop. Mollie clutched her head, looking back up at Crane, but there was a headless body standing in front of her, its arms raised out towards her. All around him, pale corpses rose like zombies. They were her family from the alley. Dried blood caked their faces. Their broken bodies threatened to surround her, to suffocate her.

"NO! Please! Leave me alone!" More screaming echoed in her head, and then Mollie's scream joined them as she slid down to the ground. The headless man picked her up by the arms, and began to drag her away. Mollie struggled, screaming.

**-0-**

**ch 5! i hope you liked it, cuz it took me a while to figure out what i wanted to do with it :) ps: sorry if Crane is a bit ooc, i don't really know him that well. hm. i should go watch batman begins, lol. reviews are much appreciated! love.**


	6. Shady Deals Between Monsters

**Hey! I'd like to give a huge thank you to readyaimfire333, SeleneistheJoker'sgirl, and for their awesome reviews! Love!**

**Please Read And Review!**

**Disclaimer: don't own things from TDK, as we all are painfully aware of. Mollie and things are mine!**

**-0-**

Mollie struggled to breathe. The fiends were trying to grab her, and she felt as if she were trying to run through pudding. It didn't help that the headless man had grabbed her, and wasn't letting go. Mollie fought him with all she had, trying to run home. Some small part of her brain had told her that home was safe. Once she got home, it would all stop.

It seemed like Mollie was running through a fog. Everything looked hazy – except for the monsters following her. Those were sharp and clear.

Suddenly, she felt the headless man's grip loosen, and she tugged her arm free. She sprinted as fast as she could, stumbling on the barely visible sidewalk. She knew he'd be following. Mollie nearly missed the entrance to the small side street between her home and a dance studio. She pushed off the wall, dashing for the cloudy door. Five feet from the door, a hand closed around her wrist, and another clamped over her mouth before she could scream again.

The headless figure had pulled her close, effectively stopping her struggle. It pushed her into a dark opening, and more zombie-like creatures turned towards them. Impossibly, the headless figure spoke.

"Where is the Joker?" the voice gurgled.

"Gone," one of the unfamiliar zombies rasped.

"Well then, I'll just have to wait," said the impossible voice.

I don't think that will be necessary," said a deep, thunderous voice behind them.

"Jack, how nice to see you again," said the monster holding Mollie, still keeping a tight hold. Mollie whimpered.

"Let her go." It could have been the voice of God. Or the Devil.

"Oh, but Jack! We have so much to catch up on since you decided to take your little… _vacation_." The headless monster's voice paused. "Tell you what. I'll give you your little spy back if you help me."

"Hm," the deep voice contemplated. "How about I just kill you instead?"

"I can pull the trigger a lot faster than you can slit me open."

"Give her to me, and we'll hear this proposition."

"It doesn't work that way, Jack. You know that."

"Get in then," the mysterious deep voice growled. Mollie stumbled as her captor moved forward.

"So nice of you to let me in, Jack."

Mollie didn't dare see what kind of monster had entered the nightmare now. She heard the zombies leave, the door clanging incredibly loudly after them.

"What do you want?"

"I want to be sure that I'm spared from your bomb."

"And why would I want to do that? You're not really making a good case for yourself right now."

"Because together you and I can keep Gotham in a constant state of fear. No one could do anything about it. We'd be gods among men."

"Well, let me think about this…"

Mollie heard a metallic click that echoed in the silence.

"…No."

The headless man became limp and fell to the ground beside Mollie. An incredible amount of blood gushed from his severed neck. Mollie collapsed to her knees once his support fell, gasping and crying. She didn't bother wiping the never-ending river of tears that streamed down her face. It wouldn't help anything.

The door clanged open again and the deep voice shouted something indistinct. The shuffling footsteps of the zombies returned. Mollie whimpered as two zombies grabbed her arms and pulled her to her feet. She didn't have the strength to scream, and her throat was raw from all the crying.

"Get her out of here," said the deep voice.

The zombies dragged her out and pushed her into the back seat of a car. They sat on either side of her and shut the doors. Mollie squeezed her eyes shut as yet another of the deep voice's zombies sat up front and the car began to move.

Mollie didn't know how long they had been driving, but she felt sick. Usually, she woke up from nightmares, but this one just kept going. If it didn't end soon, she felt like she was going to die of fright.

After a while, it seemed too quite. Mollie dared to open her eyes. The zombies were still there, but they were silent, hardly paying any attention to her. She looked out the windshield just in time to see a dark figure fall from the sky and land in the street. It straightened up.

"Shit!" the zombie in front roared.

Mollie flew forward until one of the zombies threw out an arm to catch her.

The dark figure watched as they skidded to a halt barely ten feet in front of him. Mollie stared fearfully. There was a flicker of movement and then a hissing noise. The zombies around her growled. Mollie was too scared to scream.

The figure seemed to be just watching them, and then he strode quickly toward them.

The monsters flung the doors open. One of them reached back in to pull her out. Mollie began to struggle as soon as she was out of the car. She broke free and scrambled to get away.

Suddenly, there was something wrapping around her right leg, and Mollie tripped, skinning her hands and knees as she tried to catch herself. She looked back and saw something slimy, like a tentacle, wound around her ankle. Mollie looked up and didn't see the zombies. She pulled at the trap to try to free herself. Then she heard the footsteps.

The dark terror gripped her upper left arm painfully, hauling her to her feet. There was a pressure at the base of her skull and everything went black.

**-0-**

**So if you couldn't tell, since it's been a horrifically long time, this chapter has been pretty much completely redone. It's mostly the ending, but there are significant point of view changes to the whole thing. I'm taking the rest of the chapters down, as they obviously don't fit anymore. This story is getting a complete make-over! Apologies if you liked it the way it was, but I didn't. This will be the only story I'm working on outside of class work, so it shouldn't take me five years to update. However, it will still be a while between chapters. I'll understand if you wish to ditch this story. But if you want to keep with it, you're a way more awesome reader than I could ever deserve and reviews would be greatly appreciated!**


	7. Makeover Note from ML

I'm not sure if you guys who have this story on alert will be notified of my chapter changes, so I'll put this little note here. Yes, yes, I'm sorry it's not an actual chapter. But I've taken all but 6 chapters down because I've gone through and changed much of what was happening and they didn't fit with the new path the story was taking. The first few chapters didn't change much, but Ch. 6 went through some pretty intense changes. There's an author note at the bottom of 6 that explains a little, but basically I did not like how I was writing this story, and decided to give it a complete makeover. Stay tuned for more chapters, and hopefully it will not take five years to update again. But life has a funny way of screwing with my plans. Well, not so much funny as extremely aggravating. Catch you on the flip side.


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